Celebrity Scoop: Tyler Labine

Tyler Labine

John CrookZap2It

Fans who remember his hilarious work as slacker "Sock" Wysocki in the CW cult comedy series "Reaper" may take awhile to adjust to seeing Tyler Labine in a suit as "Mad Love" lawyer Larry Munsch. The new CBS role doesn't feel all that strange, though, Labine says.

"Larry doesn't like the fact that he has to wear a suit to work, but actually I have played a lawyer several times, in 'Boston Legal' and 'Kevin Hill,' " he explains. "I got very familiar with the legalese, and I have the Black's Law Dictionary in my bedroom, and I find it weirdly comfortable playing a lawyer, especially all that posturing we see on TV, which we are parodying with Larry."

Brampton, Ontario, native Labine and his two brothers landed an agent at an early age after their mother noticed how much they enjoyed making amateur movies. It was only years later that Labine found out the agent hadn't been interested in him at first.

"He said he didn't want the chubby one, but my mom said, 'No, you gotta take all three. They're a package,' " Labine recalls. "So he begrudgingly took me, and it sort of turned out OK for him."

After a lot of work in Vancouver, Labine landed a role in the 2001 WB Network series "Dead Last," which brought him to Los Angeles and a stateside career that also included roles in "Invasion," "Sons of Tucson" and, of course, "Reaper." That show's 2009 cancellation still stings.

"They just dropped us like a bad habit," he says. "I was bummed. They shot it in Vancouver, and I had just gotten married and bought my house. It was ideal for me, and I loved the character of Sock. I would have loved to explore that character to the nth degree."